The Oscar nominations are here, and while many expected La La Land to do well, few expected it to tie for the record of most noms ever. It now matches All About Eve and the all-conquering Titanic with 14 nominations. As expected La La Land’s nomination haul included Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Ryan Gosling and Best Actress for Emma Stone, as well as a raft of nods in everything from Best Original Song to Best Cinematography.

It was the only movie that did exceedingly well, with Arrival and Moonlight both scoring eight. It’s a particularly impressive achievement for the gay-themed, African American drama Moonlight, which many thought that despite being deserving, might struggle to get noticed in amongst the studio titles with much larger marketing budgets. It’s haul includes both Best Picture and Best Director nominations, and Best Supporting Actor for Mahershala Ali, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Cinematography, and Best Original Score.

Hacksaw Ridge, Lion and Manchester by the Sea followed them with six nominations apiece, and Fences and Hell or High Water with four each. It ensures that while La La Land has cemented its position as the frontrunner, there’s still plenty of space for others to win.

There were some surprises though, as while Arrival may have gotten eight nominations, Amy Adams – who many thought was a shoo-in – wasn’t among them. It’s also a bit odd that Suicide Squad (Best Make-up and Hairstyling) and Doctor Strange (Best Visual Effects) scored nominations, the best received superhero movie, Deadpool, got nothing.

A day after picking up a record seven Golden Globes, La La Land solidified its status as the Oscar frontrunner by picking up 11 nominations for this year’s BAFTA Awards. That included a Best Picture nomination, along with nods for Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone and director Damien Chazelle.

The next highest number of nominations were Arrival and Nocturnal Animals, which scored nine each. However there was a bit of a surprise that Martin Scorsese’s Silence was shut out entirely.

On the gay-themed front, Moonlight scored four nominations, including Best Film, Best Original Screenplay, Mahershala Ali for Best Supporting Actor, and Naomie Harris for Best Supporting Actress. It was fewer noms than some had expected for the release – especially as Barry Jenkins didn’t get a Best Director nod – although it may have been hampered by the fact that it’s not due for release in the UK until mid-February – a good time to make the most of Oscar buzz, but a little late for the more British-based BAFTA voting cohort.

The members of The Hollywood Foreign Press Association sure like La La Land, with the movie taking a record seven Golden Globes, more than any other single movie has ever taken. It did so well that the only categories it was eligible for that it didn’t pick up, were the the Supporting Actress and Actor categories – and seeing as the movie is so strongly built around Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, that’s not too much of a surprise.

However, it wasn’t just La La Land at the Globes, as gay-themed drama Moonlight also had some extremely good news, as it took the Best Picture – Drama gong. It means that while La La Land is now the frontrunner for the Best Picture Oscar, Moonlight could cause an upset, having not just taken the Best Drama Globe, but also having won numerous critics association awards. It’s certainly an impressive achievement for a low budget movie that many had thought would go the route of Tangerine – scoring enthusiastic reviews and a lot of love, but getting overlooked by major awards bodies.

The Golden Globe awards were also marked by a lot of concern about the rise of Donald Trump, with Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Limited Series or TV Movie winner Hugh Laurie quipping, “Thank you, first of all, to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for this amazing honour. I suppose it’s made more amazing by the fact that I’ll be able to say that I won this at the last ever Golden Globes. I don’t mean to be gloomy. It’s just that it has the words ‘Hollywood,’ ‘foreign,’ and ‘press’ in the title.”

Meryl Streep also gave a pretty epic speech decrying Trump and calling on the arts and the press to hold power to account. You can take a look at it below.

One other thing many couldn’t help noticing was a same sex smooch at the ceremony! After Ryan Gosling beat Ryan Reynolds to the Best Actor – Musical or Comedy gong, Andrew Garfield was spotted planting a big smooch on Reynolds’ lips as Gosling went up for his award. You can take a look at that below too, along with the full list of winners. [Read more…]

A lot of people wondered whether Moonlight would be this year’s Tangerine – a movie that was heaped with critical praise but got completely shut out at the Oscars. However, if the Golden Globes is any indication, it’s got a good shot of being amongst the nominations for the Academy Awards. Indeed, it’s already racked up a series of wins at Critics Choice awards, and so may actually have a shot at the Best Picture Oscar itself.

The gay, African American-themed drama scored six nominations for the Globes, only beaten by the hotly tipped La La Land with seven, which is currently the frontrunner for the Oscars too. Moonlight scored nominations in the Best Picture (Drama), Best Director (Barry Jenkins), Best Screenwriter (Barry Jenkins), Best Supporting Actor (Mahershala Ali), Best Supporting Actress (Naomie Harris), and Best Original Score category.

Unfortunately no other LGBT-themed project got much love, but there were a few interesting nominations. For a start, Deadpool got surprise nominations for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, and Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for Ryan Reynolds. It was also the first time for over a decade, that none of the five major studios had a movie included in the best drama picture category.

It’s certainly been a good year for gay-themed films amongst the nominations for the Independent Spirit Awards, the pre-eminent indie awards ceremony (films are only eligible if they have a budget of less and $20 million), which takes place ahead of the Oscars each year. Leading the way is the acclaimed Moonlight, Barry Jenkins’ film about a young, gay African-American, which picked up six noms, equal with the Shia LaBeouf starrer, American Honey.

It’s up for Best Feature, Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and is the sole nominee for the Robert Altman Award for Best Ensemble.

Also gettin multiple nods was Other People, starring Jesse Plemons as a gay guy who heads home to take care of his dying mother. It picked up four nominations for Plemons, co-star Molly Shannon, Chris Kelly for his screenplay and director Chris Kelly for Best First Feature.

However, Moonlight and Other People weren’t only the gay-themed films up for awards, with Spa Night (about a closeted Korean-American teenager) director Andrew Ahn up for the John Cassavettes Award (for Best Feature Made For Under $5,000) and Kiehl’s Someone to Watch Award. Lesbian crime drama Women Who Kill, was also nominated for the Kiehl’s Award, for director Ingrid Jungermann, while Certain Women was nominated for Best Director for Kelly Reichardt, while Lily Gladstone, whose character falls for Kristen Stewart in the movie, is up for Best Supporting Female.

There were also a couple of gay-themed documentaries in the mix, with ball-culture doc Kiki up for the Truer Than Fiction Award, while I Am Not Your Negro, about gay, African-American writer James Baldwin’s unfinished novel, Remember This House, is included in the Best Docuemntary category.

It’s certainly an impressive validation for LGBT-themed movies this year, with the hope that at least some of them will go on to be winners when the gongs are handed out early next year. Take a look at the full list of nominees below. [Read more…]

While Moonlight has been getting exceptional reviews, it looks like a lot of people have been underestimating its box office potential – probably because they presumed its gay and African-American themes would limit its appeal (which is also probably why it wasn’t picked up by a major distributor). However, it’s surprised many by scoring an exceptional $103,675 per screen average on its first weekend of release in the US.

It was only playing on four screens (two in LA and two in New York), but even so it joins an elite list of only 25 other movies to average more than $100,000 per location in its first weekend. In comparison, Boo! A Madea Halloween, the weekend’s top movie, only took around $12,600 per theatre.

It certainly bodes well for the movie, which many have said ought to be a major awards contender, but many had written it off because they assumed it wouldn’t be seen widely enough, and also because its distributor, A24, doesn’t have the enormous budget needed for a massive Oscar campaign. However, if it can continue its success as a sleeper hit and get more people talking, it may well have a decent shot at some nominations.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘MOONLIGHT is the tender, heartbreaking story of a young man’s struggle to find himself, told across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain, and beauty of falling in love, while grappling with his own sexuality. Anchored by astonishing performances and the singular vision of filmmaker Barry Jenkins, MOONLIGHT is a groundbreaking exploration of masculinity-a sensual, intoxicating piece of cinema that uncovers deep truths about the moments that define us, the people who shape us most, and the ache of love that can last a lifetime.’

Every year the BFI (British Film Institute) runs the BFI Flare London LGBT Film Festival in the spring. However, that doesn’t mean they ignore everything lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender in their other main fest, the BFI London Film Festival.

This year they’ve got a great selection, including the much anticipated Moonlight, the Russell Tovey starrer The Pass (which also opened Flare) and Kelly Reichardt’s Certain Women, starring Laura Dern, Kristen Stewart and Michelle Williams. There’s also the UK Premiere of King Cobra, about an infamous murder in the gay porn industry, and Xavier Dolan’s new movie, It’s Only The End Of The World, amongst others.

It’s certainly an interesting selection of movies, which will be screening in amongst many other great flicks when the festival runs from October 5th-16th, 2016. Take a look below for the goods on some of the LGBT movies: [Read more…]

Moonlight is one of the movies anticipated indie movies of the year, with some suggesting it has potential to be an awards contender. It’s already set to get a pretty prestigious debut at the Toronto International Film Festival in a couple of months time.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘MOONLIGHT is the tender, heartbreaking story of a young man’s struggle to find himself, told across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain, and beauty of falling in love, while grappling with his own sexuality. Anchored by astonishing performances and the singular vision of filmmaker Barry Jenkins, MOONLIGHT is a groundbreaking exploration of masculinity-a sensual, intoxicating piece of cinema that uncovers deep truths about the moments that define us, the people who shape us most, and the ache of love that can last a lifetime.’

The cast includes Naomie Harris (Spectre), André Holland (The Knick), Mahershala Ali (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Edson Jean (War Dogs), and soul/R&B singer Janelle Monaé. The fact it’s split into three chapters is reflected in the great new artwork above. Moonlight is expected to get an awards friendly release in the US towards the end of the year. [Read more…]